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Financial Crises: Systemic or Idiosyncratic

Author

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  • Hyman P. Minsky

Abstract

The presentations at this conference are by economists from Academies and economists who professionally confront real world problems, either in private finance or in public policy. As economists we accept that the remarks made by Keynes in the closing passage of The General Theory are true: "... the ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else. Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influences, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist. ....I am sure the power of vested interests is vastly exaggerated compared with the gradual encroachment of ideas. ... Soon or late it is ideas, not vested interests, which are dangerous for good or evil." We like this assertion not only because it makes us important but also because it makes good sense. The ideas that Keynes refers to are theories. A theory prior for rational action. A of system behavior is a proposed action, whether by individual agents in households or firms, a bank, a government agency or a legislative body is appropriate action only as a theory connects the action to the desired result. Because some institutions, such as deposit insurance, the savings and loan industry, and a number of the great private banks, that served the economy well during the first two generations after the great depression, seem to have broken down, the need to reform and to reconstitute the financial structure is now on the legislative agenda. As we try to fix the financial system three questions should be asked of the pushers of a policy proposal: 1. "What is it that is taken to be broke?", 2. "What theory about proposal?" 3. What are the dire consequences of not fixing that which you assert is broke? In what follows I will take up three points 1. Two views of the results of the economic process 2. Systemic and idiosyncratic sources of financial crises 3. Some ideas about the scope for policy in the present "crisis".

Suggested Citation

  • Hyman P. Minsky, 1991. "Financial Crises: Systemic or Idiosyncratic," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_51, Levy Economics Institute.
  • Handle: RePEc:lev:wrkpap:wp_51
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    Cited by:

    1. Yulia Vymyatnina & Mikhail Pakhnin, 2014. "Application of Minsky's Theory to State-Dominated Economies," EUSP Department of Economics Working Paper Series 2014/03, European University at St. Petersburg, Department of Economics.
    2. Engelbert Stockhammer & Giorgos Gouzoulis, 2023. "Debt-GDP cycles in historical perspective: the case of the USA (1889–2014)," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 32(2), pages 317-335.
    3. Jerome H. Powell, 2019. "Challenges for Monetary Policy : a speech at the \"Challenges for Monetary Policy\" symposium, sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Jackson Hole, Wyoming, August 23, 2019," Speech 1082, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    4. Philip Arestis & Malcolm Sawyer, 2006. "The Case for Fiscal Policy," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Philip Arestis & Jesus Ferreiro & Felipe Serrano (ed.), Financial Developments in National and International Markets, chapter 6, pages 103-117, Palgrave Macmillan.
    5. Bholat, David & Gray, Joanna, 2013. "Organizational form as a source of systemic risk," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 7, pages 1-35.
    6. Samba Diop, 2016. "Minsky’s Analysis of Capitalist Development," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 48(2), pages 201-216, May.
    7. Yulia Vymyatnina & Mikhail Pakhnin, 2014. "Application of Minsky's Theory to State-Dominated Economies," EUSP Department of Economics Working Paper Series Ec-03/14, European University at St. Petersburg, Department of Economics.
    8. Zhenxiong Li & Hilary Ingham, 2020. "Financial Development, Economic Performance and Democracy," Working Papers 291296033, Lancaster University Management School, Economics Department.
    9. Leszek Kąsek & Marek Lubiński, 2010. "Hyman Minsky – wczoraj i dziś," Contemporary Economics, University of Economics and Human Sciences in Warsaw., vol. 4(1), March.
    10. Ismail Senturk & Fiaz Ahmad Sulehri & Syeda Mehak Ali, 2022. "Financial Development and Innovation Led-Growth: A Case of Selected Developing Countries," Journal of Policy Research (JPR), Research Foundation for Humanity (RFH), vol. 8(3), pages 81-97, September.
    11. Yulia Vymyatnina, 2013. "Money Supply and Monetary Policy in Russia: A Post-Keynesian Approach Revisited," EUSP Department of Economics Working Paper Series 2013/04, European University at St. Petersburg, Department of Economics.
    12. DIAW, Abdou, 2011. "La crise financière mondiale et la finance islamique: une revue de la litérature [The global financial crisis and Islamic finance: a review of selected literature]," MPRA Paper 32754, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Maria Grazia Miele, 2013. "The effects of capital requirements on real economy: a cointegrated VAR approach for US commercial banks," Working Papers in Public Economics 163, University of Rome La Sapienza, Department of Economics and Law.
    14. Leszek Lesniewski, 2015. "Gospodarki Danii, Finlandii i Szwecji a globalny kryzys finansowy / The Global Financial Crisis in Denmark, Finland and Sweden," International Economics, University of Lodz, Faculty of Economics and Sociology, issue 9, pages 5-22, March.
    15. Bijoy Rakshit & Samaresh Bardhan, 2020. "Does Bank Competition Enhance or Hinder Financial Stability? Evidence from Indian Banking," Journal of Central Banking Theory and Practice, Central bank of Montenegro, vol. 9(special i), pages 75-102.
    16. Yulia Vymyatnina, 2016. "Credit Dynamics of Various Entities in Russia: Impact of Oil Prices and Sanctions," EcoMod2016 9543, EcoMod.
    17. Yulia Vymyatnina, 2013. "Money Supply and Monetary Policy in Russia: A Post-Keynesian Approach Revisited," EUSP Department of Economics Working Paper Series Ec-04/13, European University at St. Petersburg, Department of Economics.
    18. Christine Sinapi, 2011. "Institutional Prerequisites of Financial Fragility within Minsky's Financial Instability Hypothesis: A Proposal in Terms of 'Institutional Fragility'," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_674, Levy Economics Institute.
    19. Ali, Amjad, 2022. "Foreign Debt, Financial Stability, Exchange Rate Volatility and Economic Growth in South Asian Countries," MPRA Paper 116328, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2022.
    20. Yulia Vymyatnina & Anna Ignatenko, 2011. "Inflation and Bank of Russia's Policy: Is There a Link?," EUSP Department of Economics Working Paper Series Ec-03/11, European University at St. Petersburg, Department of Economics, revised 04 Mar 2011.
    21. Evans Kulu, 2023. "Financial stability gap and private investment nexus: Evidence from sub‐Saharan Africa," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 35(2), pages 239-250, June.
    22. Elisabetta De Antoni, 2012. "The General Theory after the subprime crisis: a Minskyan perspective," Chapters, in: Jesper Jespersen & Mogens Ove Madsen (ed.), Keynes’s General Theory for Today, chapter 9, pages 151-166, Edward Elgar Publishing.

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